Right Where You Belong
by clintrasha
Summary: If I had any say in a Black Widow/Hawkeye movie, this is kind of how it would go. Clint is strong and steady, Nat is wild and unpredictable, they know all the other's idiosyncrasies, and together they make a perfect team. Even when the world throws them things they think they can't possibly handle. (Also Laura is a huge fangirl, but we'll forgive her for that.)
1. The One With the Seduction

The exaggerated laughter of upper-class white men and their significantly-younger trophy wives floated through the air over the lighthearted classical music the string quartet had been playing dutifully all night. Clearly everyone else here was having a great time, or at least they were better at faking it than Natasha was. Another gala at another ballroom venue in another place where their accents didn't blend in. It got old quickly. However, this was where the target was, so this was where they were.

Clint had found higher ground and was making his rounds on the upper floor, looking out over the ballroom below to keep an eye out for their target, a Mr. Dale Calvin, and let Natasha know when he was nearby. He was currently whining over the comms line about how uncomfortable his tuxedo pants were.

"Seriously Nat, it feels like these pants are cutting me in half right across the waist."

Natasha rolled her eyes from her position leaning against the bar.

"Until you've squeezed yourself into a skintight leather cat suit more than twice in a week and worn it for several hours with a smile on your face, I really don't want to hear your whining," she murmured in response over the brim of her champagne flute. Although, it was true that she couldn't complain about much tonight. The long dress that she'd let Maria choose for her fit her perfectly as well as camouflaging her thigh holster nicely, and the shimmering pale gold silk contrasted nicely against her flaming red curls that had been pinned up nicely to stay out of her eyes.

Clint grumbled something back to her but she couldn't answer. Instead she was forced to smile politely at the young businessman who had finally worked up the nerve to cross the room and talk to her after staring at her for nearly twenty minutes. This was undoubtedly the worst part of these intel-gathering missions: being polite to every one of the sleazy men who decided to _grace her_ with their presence throughout the night.

"Tell him to hit the fuckin' road," Clint said into her earpiece in a voice that conveyed _exactly_ what he thought of this guy.

Natasha simply maintained her polite smile and let the man shake her hand as he introduced himself as Ryan Miller. She responded with a curt, "Elizabeth James".

Clint snorted softly in her ear as he let out a low chuckle.

"That was about as subtle as a nuclear bomb, Nat. If he doesn't run for the hills just at that tone, he's a stronger man than I am."

Natasha did her best to ignore Clint as the man across from her immediately set to work trying to impress her with stories of his recent business trip somewhere in Europe. She smiled and nodded as politely as she could, not really listening to the guy whose name she'd already forgotten.

"Hey Nat? We got Calvin at your 4 o'clock and coming towards you," Clint suddenly piped up again, snapping her out of her thoughts. She stood up taller and set her eyes on Calvin who was indeed crossing the room to her.

"It was Ryan, right?" She interrupted the businessman with a sickeningly sweet smile to match her tone. He simply nodded back, smiling arrogantly. "Maybe next time remember to lose your wedding ring before trying to hit on a stranger at a party." She said with a quick wink before turning to go, timing the move perfectly so that she would bump into Dale Calvin himself as he made his way through the room.

"Oh! I am _so_ sorry!" She plastered a perfect mix of embarrassment, horror, and shame onto her face as she looked at his suit jacket where the majority of her champagne had ended up in the collision. "I am _such_ a klutz!"

"How do you manage to make even _that_ look elegant?" Clint grumbled over the radios. "Honestly, Nat it's not fair."

Calvin looked pissed at first, but his face quickly changed into reassurance once he saw the beautiful woman in front of him.

"Don't worry about it. I should watch where I'm going." He said kindly, resting a hand on her shoulder gently.

"How can I make it up to you?" She looked up at him, a faint blush coloring her cheeks, but looking somewhat comforted by his reaction.

"Tell you what, how about you have a drink with me at the bar and we'll call it even?" He was charming, Nat had to give him that.

She nodded a little and took the arm he offered her as he led her over to the bar across the room. He pulled out a seat for her before pulling off his soiled suit jacket and setting it in the seat beside him.

"I'm sorry I messed up your jacket. If it doesn't come out I'd like to pay for you to buy a new one," she offered politely.

He waved her offer away with a flick of his wrist. "I was looking for an excuse to get rid of it anyways. It's old. Besides, I can afford to buy myself a new one." He smirked a little as he slid her a new flute of champagne and took a sip of his scotch.

Ah. There it was. The arrogance she'd been looking for. All she had to do was appeal to his need to brag about himself and she would get all the information they needed.

"Oh? What is it that you do?" She asked, raising an eyebrow before she took a slow drink.

He sat back in his seat a bit and actually straightened his bowtie before answering. "I work for the government. It's possible you've heard my name before. Dale Calvin? I'm the head of the defense department here in London."

She looked duly impressed at him answer. "Wow. Sounds like an important job. You've got a lot of people to speak for. You must be under so much stress all the time," she said in a sympathetic voice, leaning forward slightly and resting a gentle hand on his forearm.

God, Clint loved his job. He loved that he got to watch Natasha break these guys down with just her expressions, tone, and a few well thought-out touches. He could see Calvin practically foaming at the mouth and new it wouldn't be much longer before they were out of here.

"Well it's certainly not easy, but somebody has to do it," he said nonchalantly, placing his hand over Natasha's on his arm. "Tell me a little about yourself. I don't even know your name. However I know you're not from around here. Your accent gives that away."

Nat was a little thrown off that he even bothered to ask about her. They hadn't predicted that. Of course she'd planned for it like she did for every possible situation, but she hesitated out of surprise. She quickly played it off as just being flustered and brought a quick blush to her cheeks without much work.

"Me? Oh, I'm no one important. My name is Elizabeth. Elizabeth James. And you're right. I'm not from around here. I'm from Canada. Toronto, to be exact." She smiled softly at him.

Clint cringed a little at her hesitation and held his breath, waiting for Calvin to respond to her. He blew out the breath when Calvin didn't even blink.

"Canada? That's interesting. One of the few countries I've never been to. I travel all over the world for my work, but never Canada. I guess that's probably because they don't have much of a military. They're pretty far down on our list of possible threats." He seemed all puffed up over the importance of his job and Natasha relaxed again, glad that they were back on track.

"What's the most interesting place you've ever traveled?" she asked, looking up at him intently as she sipped on her champagne. Her job was to make him think he was the most important man in the world to her, and she was _great_ at it.

He thought for a moment before answering, "I've been to many exotic places, for business _and_ pleasure, but I've got to say the most interesting place I ever visited was Reykjavík, Iceland. I know it's not exactly an exotic place, but it was very interesting. It's really a beautiful city."

She raised an eyebrow, genuinely surprised by the answer. Even _she_ had never been to Iceland. "That's very cool. I hope I get a chance to travel the world at some point in my life," she said wistfully.

He raked his eyes over her slowly. She could practically feel them on her, but she maintained her composure carefully as he started at her flaming curls and traveled down the elegant slope of her neck to the V-neck of the dress and the modest amount of cleavage Maria had insisted she showcase. His eyes hit the waist of her dress and dropped to the thigh-high slit (on the side without the knife holster of course) in the skirt. She was suddenly very grateful for Clint in her ear as he spoke up.

"You can't really blame him, right? I mean you really do look great. Just think about how hard you're going to get to hit him later." Clint was certainly thinking about it. He didn't like the creep's eyes on Natasha, let alone his hands touching her.

Her smile immediately returned and she managed to turn it into a sultry smirk just as he brought his eyes back up to lock on her sparkling green ones.  
"What do you say we step outside onto the balcony?" he said lowly, leaning closer to her. "It's a beautiful night and the stars are pretty visible."  
She simply nodded slightly with a small smile and stood up from her seat. The golden silk of her dress shimmered as it moved around her legs, reflecting the low light in the room while they walked together out onto the balcony. It really _was_ a beautiful night, but that didn't stop Natasha from faking a small shiver so Calvin would put his arm around her shoulders and pull her close to him. She relaxed against his side and smiled up at him. "Thank you," she murmured softly.

He smiled arrogantly down at her. "Well I can't let a lady go cold, can I? What kind of gentleman would I be?"  
Clint snorted derisively over the radio. "The kind of 'gentleman' that's doing an illegal weapons deal with the enemy," he grumbled. He knew they didn't have the proof yet, but the second they did, Strike Team Delta was out of there and on their way back to the States.

She let out an airy giggle. "I appreciate it. It's chillier out here than I thought it would be," she said, cozying up to his side even more as they looked out over the city, all lit up for the night.

"I guess my traveling has given me a higher tolerance for cold," he shrugged a little.

"Oh? What kind of colder places have you been?" she asked nonchalantly, looking up at him.

"I spend time all over. I've been to Alaska, the Netherlands, and Russia. I even spent a couple days in Antarctica once," he bragged carelessly.

"I'd like to see Russia someday. There's so much history there…" she hoped she wasn't pushing too hard.

"Yeah?" he looked down at her with an eyebrow raised, a small smirk on his face. "Well maybe I ought to take you with me next week. You could keep me warm. Plus these business meetings get so tiresome without someone to spend my free time with."

Bingo. He'd completely sold himself out. That was what they needed. Clint let out a quiet cheer.

"Alright Nat. We got it. I'm going to give you your getaway call now. You can get away from this sleaze ball and then we're home free." He grinned and pulled out his phone, hitting her number on speed dial.  
Natasha's phone immediately started to vibrate in her clutch and Calvin looked at her.

"Do you need to get that?" He started to pull away, but she immediately shook her head.

"No. It can wait. I want to hear more about you." She said smoothly, reaching up silently and pushing a stray curl behind her ear, shutting off her comm unit as she did, effectively cutting off her connection to Clint.


	2. The One With the Fight

Clint sat in shocked silence for a moment. What was she doing? They had everything they needed. If she waited much longer they weren't going to get out without causing a scene. He opened his mouth to speak, but then he heard the radio line go dead. No. No, no, no. There had to be something wrong with the tech. Natasha never disconnected herself from him unless a target was hard to break and she had to… His eyes widened and he moved to see her again. He watched as she stood with him and walked out of the party and out into the hotel with him, stepping into the elevator. Why was she doing this? They had enough evidence on him to launch a full investigation. She didn't need to take it any farther. Unless… maybe she wanted to? Sure, the guy was charming and attractive enough, but he was a criminal.

Clint paced slowly back and forth, shooting off a couple texts to her.

'Nat, what are you doing?'

'We got the intel, we can go now.'

After a couple minutes of no answer, he sent another.

'I'm going to wait in the lobby. Turn your radio on if something happens.'

Then he slid his phone into the inside pocket of his suit and made his way down to the lobby of the hotel hosting the party and found a comfortable seat. He leaned his elbows on his knees and rested his head in his hands. What was she doing? Sure, he trusted her, but it was hard not to worry about her. It wasn't like she'd never made a reckless choice before.

Half an hour later of radio silence later, the radio line came back online. At first all Clint heard was white noise, but then Natasha's voice came in loud and clear.

"Call for extraction. Get our things from the room. I'll be on the roof and ready for the jet in 20 minutes," she spoke curtly and flipped the comm unit back off before Clint could even respond.  
He groaned in frustration but all he could do was follow her instructions. He texted their location to Coulson – who assured him a jet was on the way – and quickly went up to the room to gather their things. Exactly 18 minutes later, he was standing on the roof of the hotel, a duffle bag on either shoulder, and holding his phone, waiting for Natasha to check in.

Clint was already on the jet with their things when Nat finally stepped out onto the roof and walked onto the plane. Her hair was down around her shoulders and she hadn't bothered to do up the hook at the top of the zipper on her dress. She was barefoot, her shoes in her hand and her face emotionless, when she stepped silently onto the jet and braced herself as they took off.

"Well?" Clint finally broke the silence once they were in the air, his arms folded across his chest and his tone irritable. "What the hell happened back there?!"

She finally looked at him, her face still stoic, unaffected. "I don't need to explain myself to you," she finally said flatly. She turned and rummaged through her duffle bag until she found a pair of leggings and an old hoodie. She took the clothes and walked into the bathroom to change. She spent several minutes in the small bathroom, changing her clothes and wiping off most of her makeup. When she came back out, her curls were tied into a loose ponytail, pulled away from her face. She carefully packed the dress and the weapons she'd had on her into her duffle bag before turning and tossing a small object to Clint.

He caught it easily and looked at it for a second before looking back up at her in disbelief. "His phone? You risked the entire operation so you could steal his phone? Great. Good. I'm glad we have this," he said dryly. "It'll be great for the first hour before he realizes you took it, finds out we're onto him, and alerts all his buddies so they can go so far underground we won't find them for the next 6 years."

She crossed her arms, an annoyed look on her face; the first emotion Clint had seen her show since she'd left the party with Calvin. "I'm not stupid, Clint," she said in a tone that sounded dangerously close to hurt.

"I didn't say you were stupid. I know you're not. But this? This was stupid. It's not like you to be so reckless, Natasha. You probably just blew this whole op." He knew he was being a little harsh, but he also knew he was right. They didn't usually take things for this exact reason.

Nat bristled at the use of her full name. It wasn't common for Clint to call her Natasha. He had to be really pissed at her.

"I told you I'm not stupid. That's not his phone. It's a clone of it. Now we know everything he has on his phone and we get to know everything new that happens too," she stared him down unrelentingly. "But by all means, if you don't trust me, do yourself a favor and request a new partner when we get back."

Clint's jaw nearly dropped. He opened his mouth to reply, but realized he didn't have anything to say. His mind was racing to catch up and respond, but before he could form a sentence, Nat had made herself comfortable in one of the seats, put her headphones on, and closed her eyes as if to sleep. Clint was in the mood to fight a little for sure, but he wasn't in the mood to get himself killed by keeping her from sleeping. Especially after the night they'd both had. They didn't need to fight on the jet anyways. There was nowhere to go to get away from the pilot and copilot and it was awkward to fight in front of other people. So he did the only thing he could do. He sat down and looked out the window for a while. After a couple minutes, he remembered he was still in the incredibly uncomfortable three-piece suit, and changed into jeans and a t-shirt for the rest of the flight.

About half an hour later, Natasha was no longer faking her sleep and Clint decided to check what she was listening to. Usually she listened to Vivaldi to sleep. She said if she listened to music with words, she sang along in her head and it kept her awake. He reached over and hit the home button on her phone, immediately groaning softly to himself. Quiet Riot. That was bad news. The fact that she was listening to a rock band like Quiet Riot at all meant she was absolutely pissed at him, but add in that she was _sleeping through it_ and Clint ought to start planning his funeral now.  
He let out a soft sigh and went back to his seat, settling in. They had a couple hours on the plane still so he might as well get some sleep. He took out his hearing aides and put them in his pocket leaving him in total silence, and closed his eyes to get some sleep before they got back to the compound.


	3. The One With the Make-up

Clint woke up a couple of hours later when he felt the plane land. He quickly put his hearing aides back in and stood up, gathering the few things he'd taken with him. Natasha was first off the plane, her duffle bag over her shoulder and her headphones still covering her ears. She didn't even look at him as she breezed past him and into the compound. He sighed quietly to himself and followed her out, thanking the pilot and copilot before going into the compound and making his way to his room. It was a little past 10 and the others were gathered in the common room, talking amongst themselves. They fell silent and looked at Clint expectantly when he entered the room to get himself a drink.

"Alright. What is it?" he finally asked when he'd poured his scotch and turned around and they were all still looking. "What do you want from me?"

They all looked at each other for a moment before Bruce finally cleared his throat and spoke up. "Um, Natasha walked through here earlier…" he said vaguely.

Tony scoffed from his position on the couch. "No. Natasha _stomped_ through here earlier. Or she stalked. She didn't ' _walk'_. Walk is too calm of a word. What did you do to her?"  
Clint sighed and ran a hand over his face tiredly. "I didn't _do_ anything. And frankly, even if I _had_ done something, it still wouldn't be any of your business. Any of you. It's between Nat and me," he said firmly before taking a slow drink from his glass.

There were mumbled apologies from around the room, but Clint ignored them. He simply drained his glass, refilled it, and stepped out of the room. He walked into his own room and set his duffle bag on the floor before pulling on a sweatshirt and finishing his scotch once more. He set the empty glass on the dresser and looked at himself in the mirror. God he was getting old. Where did all these wrinkles come from? An annoying voice in the back of his head that sounded suspiciously like Nat piped up and said, "from worrying too much" but he simply shook his head and ignored it.

"You messed up," he said firmly to the Clint in the mirror before standing up straight, running a hand through his hair, and marching down the hall to Natasha's room. He knocked three times on the door.

"Go away," she said in a voice muffled by the door.

"Nat please let me in." He leaned his forehead against the door and spoke into the wood.

"I said go away," she repeated, just as firmly as the first time.

"Please? I just want a couple minutes. Just three minutes and then I'll leave. I promise." He knew he was begging, but something told him that was what she wanted.

He was starting to think he was wrong after 30 seconds of silence passed, but then the door opened and he nearly fell into her room before righting himself.

"Three minutes," she said firmly, her arms wrapping around her torso as if to hug herself.

He nodded quickly and started talking. "I'm sorry. I should have trusted you. I know that. And I do trust you. Blindly even, sometimes. I just don't trust the kind of dirtbags we work with. _Ever_. But I know I should have trusted you to know what you were doing and to handle yourself and I never should have implied that you were stupid on the jet. I know you're not. God himself knows your IQ is at least double mine. I don't want to work with another partner, Nat. The only partner I want to work with is the one who's always had my back, often at the risk of her own ass, even when I make reckless decisions and get us both into deep shit and when I blow our cover wide open and we have to run for our lives. I'm really sorry, Tasha." He looked at her with his gray eyes wide and pleading.

She stood tall and assessed him in silence for a long moment. Long enough that he had begun to shift his weight on the balls of his feet by the time she finally spoke up.

"Come in," she said evenly, taking a step back and opening the door wider to let him in.

He let out a small breath of relief as he stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. His eyes tracked her movements as she crossed the room and sat cross-legged on her bed, her back against her headboard. Her face was an unreadable mix of emotions. A show of any emotion from Nat was cause for surprise, but the bits of sadness, fear, guilt (?), and other things he couldn't identify that played across her face at the moment had him very concerned for her.

"Are you okay?" he finally asked, standing in the middle of the room, still unsure of her attitude towards him. For all he knew, she was still pissed at him and planning her revenge. Then again, it wasn't like Nat to overreact to something. Sure, they'd fought, but he had apologized and they usually moved on now.

She looked up at him for a moment, her eyes running over his face and posture as if she were evaluating him. And maybe she was. Or maybe she was just formulating her response. To be honest, there was a lot in her head right now and it was all pretty jumbled up. She wasn't sure how to answer his question or where to start.

Clint watched her before sighing softly and taking a chance, sitting on the edge of her bed with his back to her. He was sure she still felt a little upset and pretty vulnerable based on how she was letting him see her right now.

"Please talk to me, Nat," he finally said softly, not turning to look at her. "Tell me what's going on in that giant, terrifying brain of yours. You know keeping it in never helps. It took a couple years, but we both learned that one, right?"

"It's been a while," she finally said softly, no explanation following the statement.

"I need a little more than that, Tasha..." He turned a little to face her finally, bending one knee and letting his foot rest against the inside of his thigh, one foot still on the ground.

She pulled her hair down from its loose ponytail and ran her fingers through her curls a couple times before tying the ponytail back up; she was nervous.

"It's been a while since we've had that kind of mission. It's mostly been big battles lately. It's been a long time since I had to talk to a target. Since I had to play that part." She shrugged a little like it was no big deal.

The ever-present crease of concern in his forehead deepened a little and he frowned slightly. "Yeah, it's been a while. But you did just as well as you always do, if that's what you're worried about. We got what we needed and we got out without anyone getting hurt. We pulled it off," he said reassuringly.

She nodded a little, looking down at her hands in her lap. "I know that. I guess I just forgot how it feels afterward." She looked up at him and let out a soft sigh, reaching up and smoothing away the crease in his forehead with her thumb. "I told you you would get wrinkles if you don't stop that."

That made more sense. He had finally convinced her to talk with him about this once a couple years ago when her mood was similarly sour after this type of mission. She'd told him all about how she felt when she got back; like she was dirty and couldn't get clean for a couple days. She could remember everywhere each of those creeps had touched her. It had reassured him that they felt exactly the same way about these guys and these kinds of missions. Clint's frown relaxed a little at her touch but he was careful to not let pity show on his face. That would just make her angry.

"Just remember that you only did what you did because you had to. You did it for the mission and it was worth it because the mission was successful. Right?" He spoke in a low, matter-of-fact voice.

She stood up from the bed and raked her fingers through her hair again, pushing some small flyaway hairs back into the ponytail. "No," she said as she started to pace. "No I didn't. And you don't believe what you're saying either. You said it yourself on the jet. I took it farther than I needed to. We already had the information we needed to build the case."

Clint suppressed a groan and stood up off the bed, standing in her path so she was forced to stop pacing. "I was worried, Nat. That's why I said those things. You made a good move and you got us a duplicate of our guy's phone. That's _huge_ in a case like this. You know that. We have all the evidence we need now. Okay?"

She looked at him for a brief moment and then went back to pacing. He sighed softly and sat on her bed, watching her for a minute in silence.

"Can you explain to me why you did it?" he finally asked softly. "I mean, you had contact with him and I didn't, obviously, so you could read him better. I'm just curious what made you decide to go with him."

"I don't _know_ ," she groaned quietly, still walking back and forth, albeit more slowly now. "I got in my head-"

"A dangerous place," Clint interjected, a lopsided smile on his face. "Sorry. Sorry, keep going."

She cracked a small smile but it dropped quickly. "Right. Well I started thinking and I got distracted. I know he's a total jackass, but the attention felt good…" she admitted softly.

Clint simply nodded a little. He knew the feeling. It was hard not to get lonely sometimes in their line of work. Even when you were surrounded by the rest of the team, it was easy to feel stranded. He scooted himself over a little on the bed and patted the space next to him. "Sit with me," he said gently. "All your pacing is stressing me out."

She nodded a little and sat stiffly next to him. "How do you and Laura make it work so well? You guys are apart pretty much all the time but when you're together you pick up again right where you left off."

Clint cringed a little. Great. Tonight was going to get even more uncomfortable.

"I need to talk to you about that…" He said, wincing a little.


	4. The One With the Truth

Natasha shifted on the bed and looked up at him, one eyebrow raised. "Is everything okay with you two? Did something happen? Are they all okay?" she asked quickly.

Clint sighed softly. "Yeah, Nat. They're all fine. I promise. And nothing happened with Laura and me per se…" He rubbed the back of his neck as he tried to figure out how to put it into words.

"Clint, I don't understand what you're saying," she said gently.

"I know. I'm just trying to figure out the best way to say this so that it all makes sense. I was planning on talking to you about it after I'd planned what I was going to say," he admitted. He paused for a moment and thought before speaking again. "They aren't mine. I mean, Laura isn't actually my wife," he finally said.

Nat blinked once at him, her mind immediately going blank. She had to have heard him wrong. Clint had introduced her to Laura years ago. Of course she was his wife.

"Okay listen, back when I joined S.H.I.E.L.D, I took some time off to go looking for Barney. Coulson excused the time off and even let me use some of the division's resources. I didn't find Barney. Instead I found that farmhouse with his family: Laura, Cooper, and Lila. They hadn't seen Barney in over a year. Lila had never even met him. She was just a baby at the time. Laura didn't know where he had gone or if he was coming back. She hadn't gotten any word from him since he disappeared. I came back and told Phil I was going to help them and stay in contact with them whether he approved or not. So we sat down and he agreed to set up their house as a safe house that would allow me to go out and visit whenever I got the chance to. The problem is that S.H.I.E.L.D safe houses are only for use by agents and/or their immediate family. So Coulson fudged some paperwork, Fury approved it, and nobody ever asked any questions since it mostly stayed out of files. I wanted them as far away from all of this shit as possible and they respected that. When I took you to meet them, it was all still new and S.H.I.E.L.D didn't exactly trust you quite yet so I was under orders to keep the story up. But I wanted to take you anyways because you needed family. You needed another woman in your life. You were in a low spot and needed to see some kids that would love you and never ask where you came from. After that…" he shrugged a little, "I kept the story going. Fury was very clear that the more people that knew about them, the less sure we could be that they would be safe. So I kept it a secret. Then I took everyone back there after we took that hit from the twins and you know I couldn't tell this whole story to everyone. At least not right then and there. Fury would have had my head. It took me this long just to convince him that you should know." He sighed softly and ran a hand through his hair tiredly before looking at her. "Sorry I didn't tell you earlier."

She looked at him blankly. Her mind was moving a mile a minute trying to catch up. She had so many questions she didn't know where to start. "Okay. Okay but what about Nathaniel?" she finally asked after a long minute of silence.

He nodded a little. "Nathaniel… Nathaniel is the best possible outcome of a mistake I shouldn't have made." He tried to put it delicately.

"So he _is_ your son." It wasn't really phrased like a question. Just a confirmation of what he'd said.

"Yeah," he said quietly. "He's my son. None of us has seen Barney still since he left all those years ago."

She nodded slowly as she processed. "So you're not married, you have a son, and you still don't know where your brother is."

He nodded back. "That's about it. Do you have any other questions you want me to answer?"

"Yeah. Nate… what, I mean, how-" she tripped over her words, unsure of how to phrase the question without coming off as too nosy.

"What made me decide to sleep with my sister-in-law?" He interjected, saving her from asking the question.

"Sorry," she cringed a little as he said it out loud. "That's none of my business. You don't have to answer that if you don't want to."

"No, no its okay. It's a fair question. Vodka. Vodka made me sleep with Laura," he said softly, running a hand through his hair, his face tired. "Look, the truth is I was having a rough time of it. We both were. Coop was having a hard time at school, Lila had been sick, and Laura was feeling like she was failing her kids. Meanwhile, you were on that mission in Turkey that Fury wouldn't let you tell me anything about. I was worried sick. We put the kids to bed and sat on the porch with a bottle of wine, just talking. The wine turned into vodka, the night got blurrier, and the next morning…" he shrugged a little. "The rest is history I guess."

She listened to him explain, nodding slowly. "I remember that mission. You were acting weird when I got home."

He nodded. "Yeah. After that whole ordeal, I decided I wasn't going back there. I would keep sending money, but I couldn't keep going there and staying, pretending like I had a family, playing house with Laura. That is, until she called to say she was pregnant. I wasn't going to leave my baby without a father. I've seen what that did to Cooper and Lila and I know what it did to Barney and me. Laura and I had a long hard conversation where we decided what to do. She wanted me to keep coming for the kids too. She wanted them to have a male presence in their life. So I kept going. It's been hard to explain to the kids, but I think we're past it now. And I've got a son." He shrugged with a smile. "So it's not all bad."

She smiled back a little. "So Cooper and Lila know then? That you're their uncle and not their dad, but that you're Nathaniel's dad?"

"Yeah. Cooper's old enough to remember Barney before he left, and Laura and I never wanted to lie to Lila. Lying to your kids never works out well in the long run. They know Nate's their brother and they love him. The 'half' doesn't seem to matter to them."

She let out a low sigh and shifted in her position on the bed, relaxing a little as she soaked in everything she'd just learned. "That's a lot to take in," she said softly.

"I know. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you earlier," he murmured lowly as he looked at her out of the corner of his eye.

"I'm not mad, Clint. I would have done the same thing. You have to protect your family. They come first. Always," she said, reaching over and taking his hand gently.

He smiled a little and closed his hand around hers, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Thanks, Tasha. For being so understanding," he said genuinely. "Laura said you would be, but I've seen you angry before. Been on the receiving end of it more than once. I wasn't looking forward to the possibility of being in that position again."

"You talked to Laura about telling me?" she asked, looking up at him a little.

"Of course. I wanted to warn her. Besides, she'd the one I talk to about things when I can't talk to you." He shrugged slightly. "She wants you to come visit, by the way," he added, looking down at their hands, still intertwined, resting on Nat's knee.

"She does?" Nat sounded surprised as she looked up at him, an eyebrow raised.

"Of course she does. You're part of the crazy, messed-up, Barton family, Tasha, whether you like it or not. Laura loves having another girl to talk to, Lila needs an aunt like you to teach her how to handle herself, and Coop tells me every time I show up there without you, that you're way cooler than me. And he's right." He smiled softly. "They love it when you come around."

Nat looked away from his eyes and blinked quickly against the unbidden tears glistening in her eyes. "Thank you," she murmured softly a minute later. She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt like she had a family. Sure, she considered the team to be her family. They were the closest thing she had. But having a home she could go to and be welcomed with open arms by a couple of kids calling her "Auntie Nat"? That was priceless and Clint had given her that.

He smiled softly, rolling his eyes a little as he let go of her hand and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her into his chest. "Oh hush, you." He chuckled a little. "Don't go getting all sappy on me now. Just a couple of hours ago you were yelling at me, remember?" he teased gently.

She let out a watery chuckle into the soft fabric of his t-shirt and sniffed a little before pulling back, wiping quickly at her eyes. She hit his chest with a closed fist, no real heat behind the hit. "You can't say something like that and expect me not to react."

He chuckled a little, rubbing at his chest as if he was deeply wounded. "I'm going out there tomorrow for Coop's birthday on Saturday. I told them I'd bring you so you'd better get some sleep tonight or you'll be exhausted all weekend."

"I'd love to sleep, but I've got this annoying partner that likes to sit on my bed and talk for hours on end." She smiled, her green eyes sparkling mischievously.

"Alright, alright. I can take a hint." He grinned, holding his hands up in mock surrender as he stood up off the bed. "Get some sleep. We roll out tomorrow morning."

She nodded a little, still smiling softly. "Goodnight Clint," she said quietly.

"'Night Tasha," he said, one foot out the door, "love you." With that, the door closed behind him and he was gone.


	5. The One With the Love

Natasha blinked a couple times, completely caught off-guard, those words echoing in her head. "Love you, love you, love you, love you…" He'd said them so easily; let them roll off his tongue like it was nothing.

She pushed a hand through her curls; tugging them out of the loose ponytail she'd pulled them back into. She wondered what it would be like to be like Clint. Sensitive, in touch with her emotions, not afraid to feel things and tell people those feelings. She couldn't even imagine it. She knew he loved her. Of course he did. She loved him too, but she wasn't sure she'd ever be able to say that to him. The last people to love her had been her parents and she couldn't even remember them. She knew they must have loved her, that was common sense, but she couldn't remember them ever saying it to her.

"Love you, love you, love you…" It bounced around her head relentlessly. She caught herself mouthing the words as she went through the motions of getting ready for bed: scrubbing the hairspray from her curls in the shower, brushing her teeth, toweling herself dry, slipping into a pair of shorts and a tank top. She finally decided it was fitting that the first person to ever say those words to her was Clint. He'd saved her life, brought her out of the Red Room, given her a new home, and now given her a family. He knew everything about her, had been there for so many firsts, stood by her through all the long nights, and essentially taught her how to be a human in the real world. She loved him too.

With the resolution to work on saying that to him, she got into bed and turned out the lights. She drifted off feeling safe, happy, warm, and excited for the weekend to come.


	6. The One With the Road Trip

Clint woke up early the next morning and went for a light jog before showering and changing into a pair of jeans and an old t-shirt. He ran a hand through his hair and decided that was good enough before heading downstairs to the kitchen and starting a pot of coffee. He smiled softly when Nat walked into the room, blocking a yawn with a hand over her mouth.

"Morning Sleeping Beauty," he said softly with a teasing note to his voice.

She rolled her eyes a little. "Morning Bird Brain," she fired back, smiling in spite of herself. "Is there coffee yet?"

"It should be ready soon. I guess we're the only ones up already. I usually sleep later and then I come in and someone else has already made the coffee."

She shook her head a little as she hopped up to sit on the counter across from him. "I saw Steve in the hallway on my way up. He said Stark and Bruce were in the lab all night again so they're probably still up too."

The coffeemaker beeped harshly and Clint poured two mugs, handing one off to Natasha gently. "Don't burn your mouth," he warned, knowing she always did even though he always warned her to be careful.

She sat with her mug cradled in both hands in her lap, watching his every move as he puttered around the kitchen, letting his coffee cool a little while he grabbed himself some breakfast. He looked up briefly after pouring the milk over his cereal and noticed the odd look on her face.

"What?" he asked, raising an eyebrow as he screwed the lid back on the milk. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

She shrugged a little. "I guess I just zoned out a little," she said by-way-of excuse.

He looked at her for a moment like he didn't believe her before giving in and shrugging. "Whatever you say, weirdo." He picked up his mug and blew gently across it for a long moment before closing his eyes, taking a slow sip, swallowing, and letting a soft sigh escape his lips as he opened his eyes to see Natasha smirking at him from across the kitchen.

"Okay, _now_ what is it?" he asked, setting his mug down and picking up his cereal bowl.

"Nothing. You just do that every morning with your first drink of coffee of the day. That same process." She shrugged a little. "It's nice that some things never change."

He raised an eyebrow. He hadn't even noticed the repeated process. He had always done things that way. "Now you got me all self-conscious about it and I'll probably never do it again," he said, his mouth full of cereal.

She wrinkled her nose and tossed a bagel at him from a tray on the counter. "Close your mouth when you're eating," she scolded gently.

"You shouldn't throw food on the floor, Tasha. It's wasteful," he scolded back, picking up the bagel and making a show of dusting it off before handing it back. He knew the floors were clean enough to perform surgery on and clearly she did too since she took the bagel and took a small bite.

"When are you planning on leaving for the farm?" she asked after she had politely chewed and swallowed the bite.

"I was thinking whenever we get breakfast and get ready. I don't have to pack or anything so whenever you're ready is good with me."

She nodded a little and they continued to eat their breakfasts in comfortable silence. When Clint had finished his cereal, he set his bowl in the sink and topped off his coffee. He opened his mouth to say something to her, but at that moment Bruce and Tony walked into the kitchen, bickering about some disagreement in the lab. Nat raised an eyebrow at Clint, but he just waved a hand in dismissal. He'd talk to her later. She shrugged a little, but turned to mediate the disagreement between the two resident scientists as she finished her bagel. Clint made the rare choice to not take a side, simply taking his coffee and leaving the kitchen in favor of heading to his room.

Clint was sitting on his bed with his computer and reading glasses when there were three gentle knocks on his door. "Come in," he called, barely glancing up as the door opened.

Natasha stepped inside with a soft smile. She'd changed into a pair of jeans and a simple black v-neck, her arrow necklace around her neck where it always stayed. She had a little makeup on and had decided to let her curls stay wild and untamed. "What are you working on?" she asked as she entered the room.

Clint set his glasses on the bed next to him and rubbed his eyes a little. "I'm behind on some mission repots. Coulson's really riding my ass for them and I don't want to have to work this weekend. That's not fair to the kids."

Nat smiled as she sat on the edge of his bed. "You're a good dad, you know that? And uncle," she added almost as an afterthought, remembering their conversation from the night before.

He smiled softly back at her. "Thanks Tash. Are you about ready to get out of here?" he asked, suddenly realizing why she had probably come.

She nodded a little. "Yeah. Whenever you are. My bag's already out by the front door."

He stood up and grabbed his backpack, sliding the laptop and a few other things into it he might want that weekend. He would work at night after the kids were asleep if he had to. "Alright. Let's blow this place." He smiled, leading her out of his room and out the front door, shouldering her duffle bag as they passed it. She didn't bother to protest him carrying her things, she knew better by now. She followed him out to the pickup truck he loved and only drove when he went out to the farm. It was too big to drive around in the city. He tossed her duffle in the backseat with his backpack and opened her door for her, closing it behind her. He slid into the drivers seat and ran his hands along the steering wheel, grinning to himself. Nat smiled as she watched him, rolling her eyes a little when he looked over at her.

"You know," she said in a teasing voice, "I think you look at this truck with more love than you've ever looked at Laura with. I should have known," she joked.

"Ha ha. Very funny," he said in a dry, humorless voice as he started the truck and pulled it out of the driveway, starting off down the road. Nat immediately rolled her window down and propped her feet up on the dash, making herself comfortable. Clint raised one eyebrow at her, but decided against telling her to take her feet down when she simply smiled back at him. She looked a lot more like herself today and it was good to see her happy. He knew she only got happier the farther away they got from the compound.

Clint reached forward and flipped the radio on once they were on the highway, smiling when it picked up on the country station he always listened to when he drove it. Natasha groaned from the passenger seat as the sound of banjo and fiddle pumped out of the speakers. "Please, Clint. Please don't make me listen to your hick music."

He just grinned back at her. "Come on, Nat. You know the rules. When we're in the pickup truck, we listen to pickup truck music. You pick every other time."

She huffed, but couldn't help smiling a little when the next song started up and he started to hum along softly. The humming gradually turned to singing under his breath. He had a nice voice. It was low and a little rough, but nice all the same. After a moment, she joined in singing softly to the song that she figured everyone knew by now.

"Every long lost dream, led me to where you are. Others who broke my heart, they were like northern stars, pointing me on my way into your loving arms. This much I know is true. That God blessed the broken road that led me straight to you." They sang together, neither looking at the other, Clint's eyes on the road and Nat's staring out the open window, the wind blowing through her curls. They finished the song together and the radio switched over to an ad break. Clint turned the radio down a little so they wouldn't have to listen to the advertisers and Nat rolled her window up, shifting in her seat to face him.

"Hey Clint?" she asked softly, almost hesitantly. Clint raised an eyebrow and looked briefly over at her.

"Yeah Nat?" he asked in the same tone and inflection. His eyebrows furrowed a little when she didn't crack a smile. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. I just, I just wanted to ask you about what you said last night."

"Oh. About Laura and the kids?" he relaxed a little. He guessed he was still slightly on edge from their fight the day before.

She shook her head a little. "No. After that. When you left my room. You said 'Goodnight. Love you,' before you closed the door," she said, focusing on her hands in her lap rather than looking at him.

He nodded a little, glancing quickly over at her. "Should I not have said that?" he asked softly when she fell silent for a moment.

She shook her head quickly. "No, of course not. I mean, yes," she groaned and pushed a hand through her curls. "I mean it's fine that you said that. I just don't think I was expecting it."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to catch you off guard." Now that Clint thought about it, he hadn't realized that was the first time he'd told her that. He'd felt it for quite a while now. Years, probably. But Nat wasn't great with feelings so he never said anything. She was his best friend. His partner. Of course he loved her.

"It's fine. You just didn't give me a chance to respond." She shrugged nonchalantly like it was no big deal, but they both knew it was. He knew everything there was to know about her, so he knew damn well that love wasn't something she was used to, at least not so openly.

He raised one eyebrow, but didn't say anything, giving her a chance to collect her thoughts and figure out what she was going to say.

"I love you too, Clint," she finally said softly, looking over at him. "You saved my life and gave me a family and a home all while giving me a chance to build a new life for myself. I'll never be able to repay that debt, and I love that you never make me feel like I owe you anything even though I know I owe you my life."

He smiled a little at her words, looking at her with his blue-gray eyes soft and earnest. "Come on, Nat. You know you don't owe me anything. The number of times you've saved my dumb ass on missions more than makes up for that one time I didn't shoot you." His eyes twinkled a little and she smiled back at him.

"Either way, I love you for everything you've done for me and everything you've been to me," she said, her voice stronger and more comfortable the second time saying those three words.

"I love you too, Tasha," he said, reaching over and giving her knee a gentle squeeze. "You're the best partner I could have asked for, a great confidante, and a fantastic aunt to my niece, nephew, and son. You even put up with my country music sometimes," he teased gently.

She rolled her eyes but chuckled a little, swatting at his hand. "Two hands on the wheel, Barton," she scolded.

He huffed but obeyed, but not before turning the radio back up and letting the country music fill the truck's cab again. He sang along loudly and purposefully off-key to make Natasha laugh as they flew down the highway, leaving the city behind them.


	7. The One With the Kids

A few hours later, they drove down the long dirt driveway to the house and parked out front. They hopped down out of the truck and before they could even get the doors shut, Cooper and Lila came bursting out of the house, shouting about various stories and things they wanted to show to Clint and Nat. They laughed and let themselves be dragged inside by the hands, smiling to each other. The kids ran upstairs to go get the things they wanted to show the adults and Laura emerged from the nursery holding Nathaniel, a calm smile on her face.

"Hey you two." She said, hugging Natasha with one arm as she handed Nate off to Clint. "It's good to see you, Nat."

Natasha smiled and hugged her back. "I'm glad to be here."

Clint leaned forward and hugged Laura with his free arm, kissing her cheek gently. "Hey Laur. How are you? How are things going here?"

She smiled and waved her hand to dismiss him. "Things are fine as always. The kids are good, I'm tired, but the older they get the more I get to sleep. How was your drive up here?"

Nat rolled her eyes. " _Loud_ ," she said before Clint could answer. "How do you deal with his singing while he's here?"

Laura chuckled softly. "That's easy. He doesn't sing much around here. Only when he's out in the barn working and I don't have to be out there," she teased gently. "He sings to Lila at night sometimes too, but that's quieter and generally not too pitchy."

Clint's cheeks turned a light shade of pink. "Hey! Don't go selling out my secrets, Laur. That's no fair."

Nat grinned a little as she heard Lila calling her to come upstairs. "The children beckon," she said, excusing herself. "I want to hold that baby when I get back though," she called from about halfway up the stairs before disappearing into Lila's bedroom.

Clint grinned down at his son, kissing his forehead gently. He looked up to see an odd look on Laura's face and he furrowed his eyebrows a little in concern, standing up straight. "What's with that look? Is everything okay?" he asked immediately.

She shook her head a little. "It's nothing. I was just thinking about how well she fits into this family," she said, chuckling softly.

"We had a long conversation last night. I finally told her all about the situation. She was really understanding just like you said she would be."

She nodded a little. "I told you there was nothing to be worried about. You worry too much about everything."

He shrugged slightly. "I think she would agree with you on that."

"So what happened after that?" She reached out and smoothed her hand over the baby's head.

He raised an eyebrow, looking up at her. "What do you mean? We went to sleep…"

Laura sighed softly. "You're hopeless, you know that?"

He frowned. "Hey! I don't even know what I did wrong."

"Are you kidding me, Clint? The way you look at her…" she shook her head a little. "I've never seen you care about someone like that before."

He shrugged. "I love her. She's my best friend."

"Does _she_ know that?" Laura asked, a hand on her hip.

"As a matter of fact, we just talked about it on the way here. We had a whole conversation about how important we are to each other," he said proudly.

"So you told her you love her… and she said it back to you?" Laura pushed the issue, leaning forward a little and hanging on his every word.

"Yes. Why are you being weird?" He was completely clueless.

"You, Clint Barton, are a lost cause." She groaned.

"I really don't know what you're talking about, Laura…"

"Okay. You told her you love her. You're probably the first person to say that to her in a very long time. She told you she loves you too. You're probably the first person she's said that to in a very long time. So why didn't you _kiss_ her?!"

Clint let out a soft chuckle. "It's not like that, Laur. You've got it all wrong."

She shook her head a little, sighing softly. "Just think about it, okay? Just consider it. That's all I'm asking of you."

"If I say I'll think about it you'll leave me alone?"

She rolled her eyes a little. "I'll leave you alone anyways. I just think you should consider it. For both of your sakes'. You both deserve to be happy and I think you could make each other very happy." She shrugged nonchalantly and reached out to take the baby from him.

"Hey! That's my son!" Clint pulled away a little. "You live with him all the time. Back off," he said, swatting her hand gently as he pulled Nate closer to his chest.

Laura was laughing when Nat came back down the stairs, Lila on her hip and Cooper talking a mile a minute about some kid at school he'd gotten into a fight with. Clint raised an eyebrow and turned back to Laura.

"Coop's getting in fights now?"

She sighed and pushed a hand through her hair. "He got into a fight last week. We had a talk about it, but I don't think I got through. He's still talking about it like he's proud of it," she murmured quietly enough so that Cooper wouldn't hear her.

He nodded a little. "Tell you what, I'll talk to him. Maybe he'll listen better if it's coming from me. And if not, it might sink in better once he's heard it twice."

"Well you're certainly welcome to try. It's times like this I wish Barney was still around. These are the conversations that a boy needs to have with his dad," she said softly.

Clint let out a quiet sigh and kissed her head gently. "I'll talk to him," he reassured her. He crossed the room to Cooper, handing the baby off to Nat before giving his nephew a gentle noogey on his head.

"Why don't you and I go check out the barn? What do you say?"

Cooper nodded, smiling happily. He always liked to have some time alone with his uncle when he came around. He stopped at the door and pulled on his shoes at his mom's request before they stepped out the door into the sunlight and started walking through the grass towards the barn.

"So I heard you got into a fight at school…"

Cooper nodded and immediately told him the whole story: that the kid was in the grade above him and was making fun of him for not having a dad so Coop had hit him and then they both got sent to the principal's office. Clint's heart broke a little when he heard the reason that the older boy had been teasing him. He put his hand on the young boy's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Hey. You know your mom and I love you so much, right? There are a lot of kids that only have one parent, but you got a pretty kick-ass uncle to make up for the fact that your dad couldn't handle the pressure."

Cooper smiled up at him. "Swear jar," he said smugly.

Clint sighed a little and ruffled his hair. "I'll pay up when we get back. But I want you to talk to me. Coop, you're such a great kid. Mom and I are so proud of you. It's your dad's loss that he doesn't get to know you, okay? He made a big mistake leaving."

Cooper kicked his toes into the dirt while they walked, frowning a little and shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "Don't call him that," he mumbled.

Clint raised an eyebrow. "Don't call him what? Dad?"

"He's not my dad," Cooper said firmly. "We talked about our families last week. A lot of kids were talking about their stepparents and how even though they aren't their mom or dad, it feels like they are. So even though he _is_ my dad it feels like he's not. It feels like _you_ are," he said, finally looking up at him.

Clint looked down at the nearly thirteen-year-old boy and nodded a little, swallowing hard against the unexpected lump in his throat. "I've been around for a long time, haven't I kiddo?"

Cooper nodded. "Me and Lila like it when you're here. And so does Mom. She likes having someone to help her. She looks happier when you're here. And even happier when Aunt Nat comes with you."

Clint smiled softly. "Well I'll tell you what, I'm not going anywhere, okay? I'm not planning to stop coming. Whenever you want me to come, you guys just call me okay?"

Coop grinned, nodding up at him. "Okay." He pulled open the big door of the barn and stepped inside the cool building. Sunlight filtered in the windows and dust floated through the beams as they walked across the dirt floor. "Are you going to yell at me for hitting Brent now?" he asked after a minute, hopping up and sitting on the seat of the tractor.

"Well I was hoping I wouldn't have to yell. Are you going to make me yell?" he asked, leaning against the front end of the tractor as he looked at Cooper with one eyebrow raised.

"No." He shook his head. "Mom already yelled when she had to pick me up from school."

"Good." Clint nodded a little and rubbed at the back of his neck for a moment. "We want you guys to stand up for yourselves. We're proud of you for not just standing there and letting him make fun of you. But we also don't want you to hurt people."

"But that's what you and Aunt Nat do every day."

Clint sighed. "That's different, bud. The people we deal with are the kinds of people that you can't sit and have a conversation with. When you're at school and someone makes fun of you, we want you to talk to someone first. If it happens again, tell the person that what they're saying or doing hurts you. If they don't care, then talk to your teacher and she'll handle it, okay? You can't just hit people when you get upset, alright?"

Cooper nodded. "I know. That's what Mom said too. I'll tell someone next time," he said sheepishly.

Clint ruffled his hair a little. "Good. Now what do you say we fire this sucker up and take her for a ride? You'll be thirteen tomorrow, I think it's time you learn to drive it."

Coop grinned and nodded excitedly, hopping down to let his uncle start the tractor and pull it out of the barn and into the sunny field. Clint put on the brake and waited for Cooper to get on the seat before explaining the controls. Once he had gone over everything, he sat on the seat behind the boy and let him start driving in jerky circles through the field.


	8. The One With the Painting

Laura smiled when she heard the tractor start up and looked out the window to see Clint showing Cooper the controls. She shook her head a little. "Clint is so great with the kids. I bet he doesn't even know how much Cooper idolizes him. You know the only thing he wants for his birthday is a bow and arrows?" she said, looking over towards Natasha.

Nat crossed the room to look out the screen door, bouncing the baby a little as she walked. "You're in trouble." She chuckled a little.

"Yeah, you're telling me. My thirteen year old son is out there driving a tractor!" She laughed and pushed her hair behind her ear. "You know that fight he got into? The older boy was making fun of him because his dad isn't around. He acted tough and unbothered until we got home. I yelled most of the way back because I didn't know how else to get through to him, but later I went into his room to apologize for yelling and he was crying. He said the other kids don't get that he doesn't _want_ Barney to come back. He said his Uncle Clint is better anyways because he actually wants to be here." She got choked up and wiped at her eyes quickly. "He said he's extra lucky because he has Uncle Clint and Aunt Nat and they won't leave."

Natasha's heart swelled with love for this family again and she stepped closer to Laura, wrapping her free arm around her shoulders and hugging her gently. "He's right. We're not going anywhere. We're always just a phone call away. We love every one of these kids like they were our own," she said softly.

Laura nodded. "I know. And I don't think I could ever explain to you how much that means to me. You have both been so instrumental in their lives. They love you so much. We all do."

Nat smiled softly. "I think I can speak for Clint as well when I say we love you all too." Her smile grew a little as she told yet another person today that she loved them. Maybe it would only get easier from here on out.

Laura smiled and winked quickly at her. "I heard you've already said that once today."

Natasha blushed a little. Clint was such a blabbermouth. She shouldn't have been surprised that Laura knew. "Can that man keep his mouth shut about anything?"

Laura laughed. "Nope. He's never been able to before, you shouldn't count on him being able to start now."

Before Laura could keep talking, Lila ran down the stairs and straight to Natasha, grabbing her hand. "Auntie Nat, can we paint? Mommy said it's messy so I had to wait until you would help me."

Nat melted at the blue eyes looking up at her and nodded immediately. "Of course, sweetheart."

Laura took Nate from Natasha, smiling. "There should be smocks and drop cloths up there," she said to their back as Lila dragged Nat up the stairs by her hand.

Nat carefully spread a drop cloth over the floor underneath the small table in the playroom and helped Lila into a smock. "Let's get your hair out of the way too, okay? I know you might like purple hair, but I don't think your Mama would be too happy with me if I let you do that." She smiled.

Lila giggled a little. "Can you braid it like Uncle Clint does?"

Nat smiled softly, remembering the time she'd spent a whole day teaching Clint how to French braid. "Of course, baby. Sit right here for me, okay?'

She grabbed Lila's brush from the bathroom and carefully ran it through the little girl's hair before starting to braid gently, careful not to pull it too tight. When she had finished, she tied it off with the hairband from around her wrist.

"Alright, beautiful. Are you ready to get a little messy?" she asked, tying her own hair into a ponytail as she got out the paints, brushes, and paper.

Lila nodded eagerly, pushing up the sleeves of her smock and grabbing a piece of paper and some paint. "I'm going to paint you and Uncle Clint saving the world."

Natasha smiled. "That sounds cool. Maybe you could put Cooper there helping us. You could give it to him for his birthday tomorrow."

Lila nodded. "Yeah!" she said excitedly, immediately going to work.

Natasha grabbed her own piece of paper. Opting for a simple landscape of the farm, she started with lazy strokes of tall yellow grass.

"How's school going, kiddo? You're in third grade now, right? Is it a lot harder? Do you have a lot of friends?"

Lila talked happily about her classes and her friends while they painted. "It's harder than last year was. We're doing multiplication now and the other kids are faster than me, but the girl that sits next to me helps me when I don't get it. Her name's Kayla. She's my new best friend."

Natasha smiled softly at that. She knew that Laura and Clint had decided that Lila's classes were too easy and should skip the second grade and it had been a big transition for her. All of her friends had stayed in second grade and she'd had to start all over. It was a hard change for an eight year old to make new friends, especially when she was a year younger than everyone in her new class. She was glad the little girl had found a good friend.

"That's good, Lila. Tell me about Kayla," she said softly, grabbing the red paint so she could add the barn into the picture.

Lila chattered all about how they liked the same games and their favorite animal was a seal and that they were both going to play soccer on the school's elementary team in the spring. Natasha nodded along duly, pausing to ask questions here and there, and giving Lila her full attention as they painted. The conversation lapsed after a while and they continued to paint in silence for a few minutes before Lila piped up again.

"I want to be like you when I grow up. I want to help people and save the world like you do," she said casually.

Natasha smiled softly down at the little girl. "I'm flattered kiddo, but I think I would prefer if you saved the world in a less dangerous way than your uncle Clint and I do. And I think he and your mom would agree with me. What about working in a hospital?" she suggested, kissing the top of her head gently.

Lila sighed a little, but nodded. "I could be a doctor and help sick people. That's still saving the world, right?"

"Of course it is," Nat said quickly. "You can help fix your uncle and I when we get hurt. We'll never go to another doctor again." She smiled encouragingly.

Lila looked up at her with a grin, blue eyes sparkling proudly. "Okay." She nodded once as if to confirm it. "That's what I want to be."

Natasha smiled. "I think your mom will be very proud of that," she said, picking up a rag and carefully wiping the paint from Lila's hands, arms, and cheeks. "I'm going to clean this mess up and hang up our pictures to dry. Why don't you go see what your brother and uncle are getting up to?" she suggested, helping her out of her smock and folding it to be put away. Lila nodded and ran down the stairs and outside to find the boys.


	9. The One With the Matchmaking

Nat was hanging the paintings to dry a couple minutes later when she heard Clint in the doorway.

"A doctor, huh?" he smiled a little, leaning against the doorframe with his arms folded over his chest.

Nat smiled and turned to face him. "She said she wanted to save the world like us, so I suggested a safer alternative to what we do. Doctor was her idea." She shrugged a little.

"Yeah? Who do you think's going to pay for 8 years of school?" He raised an eyebrow, his gray-blue eyes twinkling playfully.

She rolled her eyes. "Don't give me that, Clint. We both know you're not exactly hurting for money. In fact, you're probably closer to hurting for a way to _spend_ your money," she said, gathering up the paints.

He walked over and helped her fold up the drop cloths. "You forgot I'm supporting three children, didn't you?" he asked, smirking a little.

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, you keep saying that, but you'll never convince me that Shield isn't paying you extra to compensate for that."

He stopped and looked at her, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. She stopped moving when she noticed him looking at her.

"What? You really never thought of that?" she chuckled a little. "Phil and Fury are giant softies. I'm sure they adjusted your salary to account for four more people when they set this up for you."

He thought for a moment longer. "Yeah. I guess that makes sense. I just never really thought about it before." He shrugged a little and went back to helping her clean up.

"How did it go with Cooper?" she asked after a moment, stacking the paint tins and brushes in the closet.

Clint sighed softly and pushed his hand through his hair, shaking his head a little. "He said the reason he hit the kid was because he was making fun of him for not having his dad around."

Nat nodded a little. "Yeah. Laura told me that," she murmured softly. "Is he okay?"

"He will be. He told me not to call Barney his dad. He said he doesn't feel like his dad because he hasn't been around. He said it feels like _I'm_ his dad." Clint's voice cracked a little and he stopped talking to clear his throat.

Nat's heart swelled in her chest and she stepped closer to him, reaching out and resting a hand on his arm, giving it a gentle squeeze. "You've been incredibly good to him. To all of them."

He nodded a little, swallowing hard before continuing in a steadier voice. "I know. I just wish I could have done more. I wish I could have found Barney and brought him back to them. I'm just so _angry_ at him. How could he just leave his four-year-old son and pregnant wife to fend for themselves and never come back? I know we had pretty messed up childhoods, but how could we have turned out so differently?" He stood tense as he talked, his jaw clenching angrily.

Nat sighed softly. "I don't know, Clint. I don't understand it either. Maybe he had some underlying mental condition you never knew about. Maybe he has PTSD. Or maybe he got into some trouble and left to keep them safe. We might never know. All we know is that from his leaving, we got a couple awesome kids and a great sister. His loss, right?"

Clint sent her a small smile. "That's what I said to Coop. Our gain. You're good to give Barney the benefit of the doubt. You're nicer than I am."

She chuckled a little. "It's not hard to be nicer than an old man who drinks too much," she teased a little, squeezing his arm again before dropping her hand.

He rolled his eyes a little and stepped closer to her, pulling her into a tight hug. "Thanks Tasha," he murmured into her hair, her head tucked under his chin.

"It's part of my job as partner-slash-best friend," she said, her voice muffled as she talked into his chest, her arms around his waist.

He let out a soft chuckle and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. She turned in his arms to look up at him, smiling softly. "I forgot how much of a softy you turn into when we're here," she teased gently.

He rolled his eyes a little and pushed a loose curl behind her ear. "Eh, you love it."

She simply rolled her eyes, smiling up at him.

"Hey you guys-" Laura stepped into the doorway, but immediately stepped back out when she saw their position. "Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt." Her eyes sparkled. "I'll come back later."

Clint sighed softly and dropped his arms from around Natasha. "You're not interrupting, Laur. Do you need something?"

"I was just hoping I could get one of you to run into town. I ordered pizza for dinner and they won't deliver out here, but I've got to feed Nate," she explained, her eyes still sparkling like she'd caught them doing something they shouldn't have been doing.

"I'll do it on the one condition that you stop looking at us like that," he said firmly, raising one eyebrow as he looked at her.

She held up her hands in surrender as she walked out of the room with an innocent look on her face. "What look? I don't have a look," she said over her shoulder before disappearing down the stairs.

Clint rolled his eyes a little, looking back at Nat. "What do you say? Feel like heading into town with me?"

She smiled softly. "Only if you let me pick the music."

"Deal," he said easily before leading her down the stairs and out the front door to the truck.


	10. The One With the Pizza

Nat hopped up into the passenger seat of the truck and buckled herself in, sitting in silence as she watched Clint go around the front of the truck, get in, start it, and pull out of the driveway onto the road. They'd been driving for a little over five minutes in silence before Clint looked over at Nat, his eyebrows furrowed a little.

"Hey. You okay? You've been pretty quiet since we left." She hadn't even bothered to change the radio to play something other than his country station.

"Hm? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. I guess I'm just a little preoccupied. Sorry. I didn't mean to ignore you."

He shook his head a little. "No, it's okay. I'm just making sure you're alright. You had a rough time of it last night so I'm just checking in."

She smiled a little. "You're sweet, but I'm okay. Really."

The crease in his forehead persisted as he looked at her. She looked over and sighed softly.

"You worry too much," she said quietly. "There's nothing wrong. I'm just thinking. Is that okay?"

"It seems dangerous to me," he teased a little. "You want to give me a hint what you're thinking about? Bounce some ideas off me?" He felt like there was something she was hiding from him.

She finally gave in. She knew the longer she refused, the more persistent he would get until he drove her crazy and she eventually gave in anyways.

"I guess I'm just thinking about Laura," she said, propping her feet up on the dash and settling into her seat a little.

"Okay. You're thinking about Laura. Why's that?" he pushed a little harder.

"I think she's kind of worn down. I know she would never admit to that, but being all alone in that big house with three kids has got to be taking a toll on her. She has to be exhausted. I can't believe she can keep that smile on her face all the time," she said softly, pushing a hand through her curls.

"Well I'm sure she _is_ tired, Nat. Being a full-time mom is a lot of work. I do as much as I can, but that's not a whole lot since Shield has me on call most of the time. I can't imagine doing what Laura does. She's stronger than I am, that's for sure."

"She spends all day every day putting herself last after her kids and even when we're here to give her a break and help her out, she's focused on us instead of taking some time for herself. I guess what I'm saying is that we should do something for her. Give her a night off, you know?"

Clint smiled softly at her care for Laura. "Yeah. I think that's a great idea. There's a guy she's been seeing lately. We could watch the kids and give them a date night out."

She smiled, looking over at him. "I didn't know she was dating. That's great." She grinned. It had been too long for Laura. She deserved to find someone new that could be there for her and the kids. "How exactly does that work…?" she asked after thinking for a moment.

"A judge granted her a legal divorce from Barney a little over a year ago now. She met this guy a couple months later. They've been out as many times as they've been able to, but mostly he just comes to the house and hangs out with her and the kids. As far as I know, she's told him the domestic version of Barney's disappearance and me helping them out. He thinks I live out of state and knows I help out financially so Laura doesn't have to work. I don't think he knows that Nate is mine, I know he doesn't know what I do, just that I work for the government, and I know that he makes Laura happy and that she trusts him to be around the kids. Cooper is hesitant, Lila loves just about everyone, and Nate's too young to have an opinion. That's enough for me." He shrugged a little.

Nat nodded as she listened to his explanation. "That's good. What do you know about him?"

He smiled a little. "I met him a little after she did and a while before the kids did. His name's Derek Price. I ran a background check on him the second I got back to headquarters and he came up clean, but not too clean, you know what I mean? A couple speeding tickets but no DUI's, a mark on his record for "disturbing the peace" in college but nothing like assault, graduated with honors but not with a GPA so high you assume he cheated, stuff like that. He's a pediatrician around here which is good money but not such demanding hours that he wouldn't have time for her and the kids. He seems like a good guy. He's good to Laura, good to the kids, and seems like he knows what he's getting himself into. He's nice and has a sense of humor. I'm glad Laura met him."

Natasha smiled softly. "That's good. She deserves to have someone to love her and help her out with the kids when you can't be there. We should give her tomorrow night off and let her have a real night out with him."

Clint nodded a little. "Yeah. I think it's a great idea. I'll talk to her about it when we get back," he said as he pulled into the parking lot of the pizza place and parked the car. "I'll be right back."

Nat fiddled with the radio while he picked up the pizza, eventually finding a station playing folk rock music and letting it play, leaning back in her seat and waiting for Clint to come back out. He was only a few minutes inside before coming out and getting back into the truck, handing her the pizzas to hold so he could drive.

"You know, it's only 5:30. We could watch the kids tonight. That way Laura can be there for all of Coop's birthday tomorrow," she said once they were on the highway.

He thought for a minute before nodding. "That's a good idea. I didn't think of that for tomorrow. I'll give her a call."

Nat tsk'd softly. "You shouldn't use your phone while you're driving, Clint…"

He rolled his eyes a little. "Yeah. As if we don't do things a hundred times more dangerous than this every day of our lives," he said as he pulled out his phone and hit 2 on his speed dial before holding the phone between his ear and his shoulder.

"Hey Laur. We got the pizza and we're on the way back… Yeah… Yes, I used the coupon. That's not why I'm calling. I'm calling to tell you to call Derek. Nat and I are going to watch the kids tonight so you get a night off. Go on a real date with him for the first time in a month… Yeah, it was Nat's idea… Yes, I'm sure we can handle them. I've done this several times now you know. And there's two of us. We'll be fine. Just call him… Yeah, yeah, we love you too. Go get ready," he said before hanging up and dropping his phone in the cup holder, smiling. "I think she's excited."

Nat chuckled a little. "Like I said, she deserves a night off."

Clint nodded. "That's for damn sure," he said before cranking up the radio and heading towards the house.


	11. The One With the Date

When they pulled into the driveway, Nat carried the pizza into the house and set it on the table.

"Hey Coop, where's your mom?" Clint asked the boy, seeing him sitting on the floor with some Legos.

"She's getting ready. She said she's going to dinner with Dr. Price and that you and Aunt Nat are in charge tonight."

Clint nodded. "I'm going to go talk to her for a minute. Why don't you help your aunt get dinner on the table?"

Cooper nodded obediently and stood up from the floor, walking into the kitchen where Natasha was already setting the table.

"Hey kiddo. Did your da-uncle send you to help?" she caught herself quickly. Apparently, this was going to take a little more adjustment than she originally thought.

"Yeah," he nodded, getting the silverware out of the drawer and setting it out as Nat grabbed cups. When the table was set, he volunteered to go get Lila and disappeared to find her. Clint walked in with Nate a couple minutes later and handed him off to Nat so he could set up the high chair at the end of the table.  
"Derek should be here in a couple minutes to pick Laura up. I figure we can eat once they're out of here."

She nodded and put the pizza in the oven at a low temperature to keep it warm, bouncing the baby on one hip gently as she did so. A minute later, a car rumbled up the gravel driveway and stopped in front of the house. Clint smiled and stepped out onto the porch, greeting the man that stepped out of the car and leading him into the house after shaking his hand.

"It's good to see you again, man. I'm glad you were available on such short notice. It's not often you two get a chance to go out instead of staying in."

The doctor nodded, smiling. "I'm glad she called. We really appreciate you doing this for us, Clint." Derek Price was tall. He was taller than Clint anyways, by a couple inches. His warm, brown eyes had a kindness to them that made Natasha want to trust him, and he had perfect teeth that made for a great smile when he noticed her standing off to the side by the kitchen.

"You must be the famous Auntie Nat I've heard so much about." He smiled and held a hand out to shake her free one.

She nodded and smiled back. "That would be me. Although, I guess you can just call me Natasha."

He chuckled a little. "Well it's great to finally meet you, Natasha. The kids speak very highly of you. And I'm very grateful to you for giving Laura and I this night out. She could use it – hell, we both could – and a little birdie told me it was your idea."

She shrugged one shoulder. "I like to help out where I can when I'm here. Laura does so much for everyone else."

"That's for sure." He smiled and ran a hand gently over the baby's head as Laura appeared at the doorway, entering the living room.

"Okay the kids need to be in bed by nine or they'll be monsters tomorrow," she started, talking to Clint as she put an earring in, "we need them on their best behavior for Cooper's birthday so 9:15 at the latest, okay? You know where everything is if you need anything. My phone will be on all night if you need to call- "

Clint chuckled a little. "Relax, Laur. I've done this many times. And I've got Nat to help me this time. Now go have fun." He shooed her towards Derek who smiled and kissed her on the cheek softly.

"You look beautiful, Laura," He said kindly. "So, what do you say we trust your brother to take care of the kids and get out of here? I made reservations."

Laura smiled and nodded. "Alright." She took the arm he offered to her and they headed towards the door.

"I don't want to see you back here before midnight, Laur," Clint called after them with a smile.

"Oh! Clint, don't let the kids go to sleep without brushing their teeth. And don't forget Lila's inhaler before she goes to sleep."

Clint groaned. "Laura, I _never_ forget Lila's inhaler. Please. Go. Have fun. And stop worrying."

Derek smiled, shaking his head a little at Laura as he pulled the door closed behind them and they headed out to the car.


	12. The One With the Phone Call

Nat turned to face Clint as the car pulled out of the driveway. "I like him," she said softly. "He seems kind."

Clint nodded and took his son from Natasha's arms gently. "He's a good guy. I think he'll be good for Laura and good for the kids."

He sat Nate in the high chair and walked over to the bottom of the steps, calling for Cooper and Lila to come down and eat. Nat got the pizza out from the oven and set it on the table, filling the glasses with water. Before long, everyone had eaten and the two older kids were sat on the couch in the basement with their favorite movie playing. Clint and Nat sat on the couch in the front room, Nate laying on Natasha's chest as the adults sat in comfortable silence. Natasha's phone suddenly rang and she jumped a little, jerked out of her thoughts by the harsh sound in the otherwise quiet room.

"I didn't know you had service here," Clint said, raising an eyebrow as he took Nate from her so she could dig her phone out. She frowned a little as she looked at the contact on her screen, not answering Clint as she slipped out onto the porch to take the call.

Clint furrowed his eyebrows, wondering who would be calling Natasha and what they might have to talk about that she would want to be outside and away from him. He sat in the armchair with Nate for what felt like a long time, catching snatches of her phone conversation when her voice rose.

"Are you insane?" she asked at one point, her voice sounding almost offended. Clint frowned at that, worrying more with each phrase he caught. "No way" "I'm not doing that" and "have you even put any thought into this?" were among the rest. She was on the porch for nearly 45 minutes before finally coming inside. She was tense, her jaw was clenched tightly, and her hair looked like she'd run a hand through it several times while she was talking.

"We should probably get the kids to bed. Especially the little guy," she said simply, clearly avoiding the topic of the phone call.

Clint nodded and stood with the baby. "You want to handle Coop and Lila? Their movie ought to be over by now. I'll be up in a couple minutes to help Lila with her inhaler."

Natasha nodded and headed to the basement, her mind racing to process what she'd just learned. She went through the motions of getting the kids to brush their teeth and get into their pajamas without really being there. She was grateful when Clint came up to take over for her and she could go back downstairs. She was still sitting in the same position when he came down a couple minutes later, her elbows on her knees and her chin resting on her hands, her eyes locked on the wall across from her. Clint stood at the bottom of the stairs and watched her for a moment before walking over and sitting next to her on the couch, keeping a space between them.

"Are you okay, Nat?" he asked softly after a minute of just sitting in silence with her.

She let out a sigh. "That was Fury on the phone. He has a new mission for me."

Clint immediately sat straighter. It was rare that one of them got assigned to a mission without the other. They made a perfect team and trusted each other.

"Okay," he said apprehensively. "What's the mission?"

She sat up a little and ran her hand through her curls again. "It's top secret, Clint. Code-name classified. I really can't tell you until it's over."

The crease between Clint's eyebrows grew even deeper at that. Every mission they went on was classified, but it was usually a given that "classified" didn't apply when it was between them. Which meant she must have some other motivation for keeping it from him this time.

"Okay. Okay, so we'll talk when you get back. When do you leave?" He spoked reassuringly, but his face conveyed anything but reassurance.

She turned to look at him and let out a soft sigh, using her thumb to gently smooth the crease between his eyebrows. "Don't do that. I'll be fine. I leave Sunday morning. So, I need to leave here tomorrow after Cooper's birthday lunch. I'm sorry. I can have Phil send a ride so you don't have to leave early."

He shook his head. "Don't be ridiculous. I'll take you. We'll stay for lunch and help clean up before we head out. Coop won't mind. Just- this is clearly big for you. So, just don't push me away, okay? I want you to call while you're gone and talk to me when you get back, alright?"

She nodded once. "Okay. But for now, I would love a glass of wine."

Clint sent her a small smile. "That, I can provide."


	13. The One With the Mission

Clint went to the kitchen and was back a few minutes later with a bottle of wine and two glasses. "Want to sit on the porch? It's a beautiful night."

She nodded and stood, following him out onto the porch and sitting on the edge of the porch swing closest to the cushioned wicker chair he chose for himself. She thanked him softly when he poured the two glasses and handed her one.

"Thank you," she said again a minute later.

He raised an eyebrow. "You already said that."

"For being so understanding," she clarified. "About this mission, I mean." She shifted a little on the swing as she took a slow sip from her glass.

"That's a given, Nat. You know I'm here for you. Whether that means I listen while you talk or just sit with you." He reached out and gave her knee a gentle squeeze.

She smiled softly and nodded once, resting her hand over his on her knee. "I know. I just don't want you to think I don't appreciate it because I do."

"I know you do." He left his hand where it was and took a drink from his glass as he looked out over the field in front of the house. The sun had set and the sky was a dusky blue. It was just dark enough that there were a few shadows falling over Nat's face, but not dark enough that he wanted to resort to turning on the harsh porch light. He much preferred to sit in the low light and watch the beginnings of the night's fireflies dance through the tall grass. He leaned back comfortably in his seat, letting out a contended sigh, not moving his hand from its position sandwiched between the fabric of Nat's jeans and the warmth of her hand.

Natasha looked over Clint's face for a long moment as if she could read his story in the small lines and creases on his face. After a minute, she followed his gaze and looked out at the field, letting her eyes trail over the tall grass, the lightning bugs, and the barn looming in the near distance before they made their way up to the sky, the first stars just beginning to twinkle against the gray-blue background. After a few moments of comfortable silence, she turned Clint's hand over on her thigh and held it tightly, closing her eyes as she finally spoke.

"The mission is Code Name Widow," she announced into the calm night before opening her eyes and promptly finishing her glass.

Clint blinked once before turning to look at her. "Nat. Please tell me that doesn't mean what I think it means."

She chewed her lip a little, alternating in her mind between wanting to pour herself another glass of wine and not wanting to let go of Clint's hand until she absolutely had to.

"I think that depends on what you think it means," she made an attempt to keep the tone light and playful, but her words fell flat.

"Tell me Fury didn't call you in to go back to Russia," he said firmly. He was convinced that the reassuring weight of Nat's hand in his was the only thing helping him keep his cool.

"Clint, they resurfaced. We have to go in now before they go back underground and we lose them for years like we did last time." She kept her tone calm and rational, knowing they both needed it right now.

He shook his head vigorously, standing up from his seat and releasing her hand in the process.

"No. Not 'we'. That's the problem. I don't care if a team goes in. I think that's a great idea. The problem I have is your placement on that team. No way in hell am I letting you go back to Russia to take down the Red Room."


	14. The One With the Porch Swing

Natasha sat straighter at his choice of words. "You're not _letting_ me?" She set her empty glass on the small table, but stayed seated. "I don't remember asking for your permission."

"Natasha, you have to know what a stupid choice this is. You're emotionally compromised! What makes you think you're the right choice of person to go back there and complete this mission?"

She took a deep breath to keep her cool. She knew they would never solve this if she started yelling back at him. "I know the process, Clint. I know how they manipulate the girls, I know exactly how they're taught, and I have enough of an emotional connection to it that I _really_ want to take them down. Don't you get that? I know if you had the opportunity to go back and handle any one of the people that hurt you in your past, you'd do it in a heartbeat. Don't you dare try and tell me otherwise."

He rubbed at the back of his neck in frustration. "This isn't about me. This is about you."

She knew that meant she was right. They both did. "Look, I told Fury I would do it. I'm not going to change my mind. So you can accept that and be ready to deal with it with me, or you can not accept it and you can stay angry, but I have to say I would really prefer having you in my corner on this one."

He finally deflated, nodding. "You know I'm in your corner. We're a team. I'm always on your side. I just hate it when that means I have to support crazy decisions like this one." He ran a hand through his hair. "Okay. What if I come with you? We make a good team and you'll need someone there to have your back."

She shook her head immediately. "I didn't assemble the team. Fury did. Besides, I'm going to have to turn back into the person they made me so I can get through this. I don't want you to see me like that. Not again."

He blew out a long breath and finally sat next to her on the porch swing, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "How do you feel?" he asked softly after a moment of silence.

"Honestly? Scared shitless." She tried to smile, but it wavered immediately and her eyes filled with tears.

Clint sighed and wrapped his other arm around her shoulders, pulling her to his chest tightly as she finally broke and cried softly. He hummed softly to her, running his fingers through her curls as he held her close, letting her feel her emotions like she so often denied herself. She was quiet after a few minutes, but he simply continued to hold her, humming and playing with her hair until she finally pulled back a bit to look up at him.

"I don't think I'll ever understand what I did to deserve a friend like you." She said in a hoarse voice, wiping at her eyes.

"You put up with me." He sent her a crooked smile and used the hem of his shirt to wipe her face gently.

She teared up again at the tender gesture, but quickly blinked them away, letting out a watery chuckle. She reached out and refilled both of their glasses, handing one to him and holding hers as she tucked her feet up on the swing's bench with her. His left arm was still around her shoulders and her head rested comfortably near his collarbone as they sat in silence, both lost in their thoughts.

They sat there for a long time. Until the bottle was empty, the air had a slight chill to it, and the sky had grown dark enough that they had to squint to make out the barn. When Nat shifted closer to Clint for warmth, he simply grabbed the blanket off the back of the swing and draped it over her, never once moving to get up and go inside. By the time Derek's car rolled back down the gravel driveway, Nat had drifted off to sleep resting against Clint's chest.

Derek walked Laura up to the porch, raising an eyebrow as he looked at Clint and the fast-asleep form in his arms. "I realize this has a very "father waiting on the porch with a shotgun" vibe, but I assure you that's not my intention." He said in a very low tone, careful not to wake Nat.

The couple simply chuckled. Derek thanked Clint again for watching the kids, kissed Laura quickly, and got back in his car.

"Sorry if I hijacked your happy ending," Clint winced a little as he looked at Laura.

She rolled her eyes a little and waved her hand. "Trust me, if that had been the plan we would have just walked right past you. We're all adults." She kept her voice low. "Can I ask about this situation or am I just supposed to ignore it?" she asked, nodding towards Nat practically in his lap.

He sighed. "I'd prefer if you ignored it but since that's clearly not going to happen I'll just tell you that she had a bit of a rough night. We got some not-great news from the director. She doesn't often go for the physical comforting, so I figure she must have really needed it. I'm just trying to let her sleep now. I have a feeling she won't be getting a lot in the near future."

This only left Laura with more questions, but she simply bit her tongue and took the empty glasses and bottle off the table, heading for the door. "You know, I think she's been as good for you as you have for her," she said softly, pausing in the front door for a moment to look back at him before disappearing inside for good.

Clint smiled a little as he looked down at Nat before shifting enough so he could check the time on his phone. 12:04. He chuckled softly. Derek Price must have dealt with his share of overprotective fathers to be bringing Laura home exactly at midnight.

Nat let out a quiet mumble and shifted against his chest.

Clint shushed her softly and let her shift so her head was resting on his thigh with his arm across her waist. Clearly this was going to be his bed tonight if he was going to avoid waking her. He accepted that immediately. He'd slept in worse places, after all. He simply slid down a bit on the swing so his head was supported by the back of the bench, and let himself drift off to the sound of crickets and the wind rustling through the tall grass.


	15. The One With the Morning

Natasha woke early the next morning, wondering why her neck felt a little stiff and her feet were chilled but the rest of her was warm. She blinked a couple times against the sun when she opened her eyes and immediately realized she must have fallen asleep on the porch. Clint was sweet not to wake her. She sat up carefully, hoping not to wake him. He squeezed his eyes shut tighter and mumbled something when the swing began to move, but she simply shushed him gently and covered him with the blanket where she had been and he was back to sleep almost immediately, breathing evenly. She smiled softly at him for a moment before turning and looking out over the field, stretching her arms out behind her.

It must have been early; the sky was still fading from what had probably been a vibrant sunrise, the grass was dewy, and the house was quiet inside. Nat knew Clint wouldn't sleep much longer – she couldn't believe he'd slept as long as he had in that uncomfortable of a position – so she decided to take the initiative to make some coffee. They were both going to need caffeine to get through what was sure to be an activity-filled day. She was standing in the kitchen waiting for the coffee to finish brewing when Laura stepped into the kitchen.

"Good morning," Nat said softly. The last thing she wanted was to accidentally wake the baby. "How was your date last night?"

Laura smiled. "It was great. Thanks again for making that happen. We both really appreciated it." She reached around Natasha to grab herself a glass and fill it with water. "How was _your_ date?" she asked as she leaned back against the counter, one eyebrow arching over twinkling eyes.

Nat rolled her eyes. "You know, I'm still trying to get used to the whole 'you two aren't actually married' thing. I think it would be easier if you hadn't immediately started trying to set us up."

Laura simply shrugged one shoulder. "I just want to see him happy. Nobody makes him happier than you. Besides, neither one of you is getting any younger."

Nat feigned offense. "Hey! I'm not exactly over the hill, Laura." She gave the other woman's arm a gentle swat.

Laura chuckled. "Alright, alright. I'm just saying I don't know of many women that have that man wrapped around their finger so tight that he'll sleep sitting up in a porch swing for them."

"We're friends. I'd do the same thing for him," she said simply. It wasn't like she hadn't done more painful things for him in their time as friends and partners.

"All I'm saying is that you make him gentler. He's a rough-around-the-edges kind of guy and ever since you two started this partnership, he's been kind of a dough ball: soft and gentle. At least when it comes to you. We both know he's seen a lot of messed-up shit in his life, and you've helped him come to terms with all of it and overcome most of it."

"Swear jar, Laur," a groggy voice accused from the doorway.

Laura rolled her eyes a little, but she did have the decency to blush lightly at being caught talking about him. "The kids aren't even up yet. It doesn't count."

He shrugged a little. "I think they'd see it differently." He cracked a small smile as he looked to Natasha. "Morning Sleeping Beauty," he said like he did every morning.

"Morning Bird Brain," her mouth had responded automatically before she even noticed the look Laura was giving her. Nat was starting to hate that smirk. She chose to turn her back and busy herself pouring two mugs of coffee. She handed one over to Clint as he stepped into the kitchen and nodded when he reminded her not to burn her mouth just like every other morning.

The baby began to cry softly and Laura groaned. "So it begins," she said quietly before heading down the hallway to his room.

Clint walked back towards the front door and nodded for Nat to join him back on the porch. This time they traded seats and she chose a chair while he sat on the swing.

"How did you sleep?" he asked after a moment of sitting in calm silence.

"Well," she said simply. "Thank you. I know it couldn't have been comfortable for you to stay out here."

He waved a hand. "Don't mention it. I've slept in less-comfortable places."

She smiled a little, nodding as she took a sip of coffee. They'd been on many stakeouts together where the most comfortable place to sleep was sitting on the floor with their backs against a wall. She watched with a small smile as he cradled his mug in both hands, blew across it, closed his eyes, sipped, swallowed, and sighed softly in content.

"You and I, we're okay, right?" she asked a moment later, focusing on the coffee in her cup rather than looking at him.

He sighed quietly. "I'm not going to tell you I'm happy with your decision because I don't lie to you, but I do support you, so yeah, we're fine. As long as you don't shut me out. This is going to be hard and I can help you get through it if you let me. You heard Laura a couple minutes ago. You got me through all my messed-up shit, but you have a habit of dealing with your own in silence. Getting help doesn't make you weaker. It just makes you human. Okay?"

She nodded, appreciating his honesty. "I'm going to take you up on that. I am. It's just a hard habit to break. But I'm working on it."

He nodded once in response and that was that. They finished their coffee in silence, each musing to themselves. It wasn't long before they heard the thundering of little feet on the stairs and Clint smiled softly.

"Let's go give this kid a hell of a birthday. What do you say?" he held out a hand to help her up from her seat. She smiled up at him and took his hand, letting him lead her into the house.


	16. The One With the Birthday

Laura passed Nate off to Clint immediately when they stepped inside. Clint bounced the baby on his hip and led the other kids out of the kitchen and out of Laura's way so she could finish making breakfast in peace.

"Happy birthday, kiddo." Clint mussed his nephew's hair.

Cooper swatted his hand away, but grinned up at him anyways. "Mom said I can have a cup of coffee with breakfast today since I'm a teenager now," he said proudly.

Nat chuckled a little before raising an eyebrow as she looked at him. "Just be careful with that stuff. You know it stunts your growth and I'm sure you want to be taller than your uncle someday," she smiled mischievously.

Cooper grinned as Clint gave her a wounded look. "Harsh, Nat. I'm just standing here an innocent bystander. You didn't have to call me out like that."

She simply shrugged and kissed the baby's head. "You're an easy target," she said, breezing past him into the kitchen to offer her help to Laura. Laura assured her she had the cooking under control and sent her back out to help contain the kids. About an hour later, everyone was fed and the kids were dressed and released into the yard to play for a while.

"Let us do the dishes, Laur. You did all the cooking. We've got this," Clint all-but shoved her out of the kitchen when she started to clean. "Take a shower or something," he called after her, teasing.

Nat set the baby in the playpen where they could see him but he couldn't cause any trouble, and made her way into the kitchen to help Clint. "You wash and I'll dry?" She grabbed a dishtowel, not waiting for an answer.

They set to work at a steady pace, talking about the plans for the day, Laura's date, how Coop could possibly be 13, and just about anything other than the elephant in the room that was Nat's assignment. They'd talked about it enough and they both knew it, so they just pretended it wasn't there. They were both good at that.

"Let's put a moratorium on it," Nat proposed during a lull in the conversation.

Clint raised an eyebrow at her. "You think we need to?"

"I think it'll be best for the kids and Laura if we do. We're not going to talk about it. Not at all today. I'll explain to Cooper that we have to leave this afternoon because I have a new job and then that's the end of it until I get back. Deal?"

He nodded once, not feeling like he had much room to argue even if he'd wanted to. "Deal. It's fine with me." He handed her the last plate and let the water drain out of the sink. "Today's going to be crazy enough as it is. I don't know if I can handle talking about that mess all day too."

She mimicked his nod. "Good. I'll go talk to Cooper," she hated to tell the kid they were leaving early, but she was pretty sure he would be understanding. She stepped outside to find Cooper, waving him over to the porch. She sat on the steps and he sat next to her.

"Hey kiddo. Are you having a good day so far? Do you feel older?" she smiled down at him, ruffling his hair.

He shrugged a little, trying to fix his hair. "Yeah," he smiled. "Maybe I feel a little bit older. What did you want to talk about?"

She sighed softly. "Well, I got a call from my boss last night. You remember Director Fury?"

Cooper nodded. "Is there another bad guy that you and Uncle Clint have to go catch?"

"Yeah, kiddo. He needs me to be home tonight because I have to leave tomorrow. Which means that your uncle and I have to leave a little after lunch today. I know we weren't supposed to have to leave until tomorrow. Trust me, I would rather be here than the place they're sending me to. I'm sorry, Coop."

"It's okay. You guys will come back. Besides, if you don't stop the bad guy then who will?" he smiled. Cooper was mature beyond his years. He'd grown up too fast when his dad left and he'd only had to continue acting older than his age. Nat gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze.

"Happy birthday, kid. Now go play," she smiled softly.

"Thanks Aunt Nat," he grinned and ran off to play again, leaving Nat to sit on the steps and watch him and Lila in the yard.


	17. The One With No Resolution

Clint stepped outside a couple minutes later and sat next to Natasha, leaning back on his hands behind him. "So? How did he take it?"

She sighed softly and leaned back against his chest a little. "Do you ever think he's growing up too fast? I think he's probably more mature than most 16-year-olds."

He nodded a little, easily supporting some of her weight. "Yeah. I do. I think it's because he's old enough to remember when Barney left and didn't come back. I started coming a little while after, but there was a little over a year there that Cooper had to watch his mom hurt, even while she was still taking care of him and his sister. Barney stole his innocence from him, and he'll never be able to get it back," he said softly. His voice held the same protective tone it always did when he talked about one of the kids or Laura.

She reached over and gave his knee a gentle squeeze. "He's turning out just fine. They all are. You've done everything you could have for them."

"I know." He rested his hand over hers for a brief moment in a gesture of gratitude for her reassurance.

They sat in silence for a couple minutes and watched the kids run around in the yard, playing together better than most siblings probably got along, until Laura stepped out onto the porch with Nate on her hip.

"Hey you guys. Derek will be here any minute and then we'll probably do presents. That'll give Cooper something to do until lunch. Sound good?"

Clint let his head fall back far enough that he could look at her, albeit upside-down. "Sounds good to me. I need a little prep to get my present ready though."

Nat stood up off the steps and offered Clint a hand, hauling him to his feet as well. "I need to get mine ready too. I know you didn't think I was going to come here without a present for my favorite 13-year-old in the world." She smiled a little.

Laura shrugged a little. "Alright. Well I'll trade off with you two and watch them. I'll call you when Derek gets here."

The pair nodded and disappeared inside. The day passed in a blur of brightly colored wrapping paper, laughter, and cake, and before long it was time for Clint and Natasha to head out. They kept the goodbyes light-hearted and promised to be back again before too much time had passed. Cooper hugged them both and thanked them politely for his presents, Lila insisted that they squat down so she could give them each a kiss on the cheek, and Laura finished out the round of hugs.

"Nat, I want you to call me, okay? You have my number. You're my friend and I'd like to talk to you, even when you're not here," she said gently, a hand on Nat's arm gently.

Natasha swallowed hard and nodded, smiling. "I will." She hugged the other woman quickly before shouldering her duffle bag and following Clint to the truck with one last wave behind her to the kids on the porch. Clint tossed their bags in the back and opened her door for her, closing it behind her before hopping into the driver's seat. He revved the engine and honked a couple times for the benefit of the kids before they headed out of the driveway and towards the road. He clicked the radio on and rolled the windows down before looking over at Nat. Her fiery curls blew haphazardly in the breeze as she looked out the window with her feet up on the dashboard. She didn't comment on the country music. A bittersweet smile ghosted across her face, conflicted between the weekend they'd had and the mission she knew was waiting for her back at home. She simply resigned herself to what was to come. They flew down the gravel backroad, knowing that whatever happened, they'd handle it together. Just like they always did.

{Author's note: I'm already working on the second part to this story for you guys. Thanks to everyone who has followed and read my work!

Update: The first chapter of the new story is up! s/12711254/1/Right-Here-With-Me }


	18. The One With the Author

Thank you to everyone who stuck with this story, especially the few of you that took the time to review! It's been a while since I finished this one, but I wanted to update it to include the link to the sequel. The sequel is definitely slower-going than this one was, but I have no intentions of abandoning it before it's finished. I'd love it if you checked it out!

s/12711254/1/Right-Here-With-Me


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